front seat options

[duckloads]

The front seats in my 1991 535i have had it. They look ok at best, and the stuffing has been beat totally down. What are my options for finding seats from other models that will fit? Comfort is a big deal hear.

Thanks

[Kalevera]

Do a search in the UUC Digest archives -- the same question was raised in the past week. I and others answered it there.

http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest%40uucdigest.com/index.html

Search "E34 Seats"


best, whit

[pyro]

im thinking of jsut getting raceing seats.

[sdlongboarder]

I ran a search for this topic in the uuc digest and had no luck.

I'd like to get any info on options. Obviously my first choice would be e34 M5 seats as they are period correct and would be a direct bolt in. I've been looking at e46 sport seats as well. Great seat if I could get it to work.

http://images14.fotki.com/v223/photos/6/687144/2730585/DSC_0066-vi.jpg

[brodee]

There is a guy selling these Konig seats for $1,000. I thought of buying them for my e34.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/ultimachi/My%20E30/80313622_ORIG.jpg

If you're interested PM me and I'll send you his info.

[callen]

All three of my BMW's seats need attention......really wish BMW did better on leather quality.....seems grey, light and dark, seem to wear the quickest.....biege and black do much better....

tried the Leatherique method and it's just barely okay.

I'm in market to have someone recover....had it done to another vehicle and it looked good....once I do it I'll post results.

[pyro]

i found raceing seats at kregan for 99$ so im just going to get two of those.

[uscharalph]

i found raceing seats at kregan for 99$ so im just going to get two of those.
I like my BMW leather seats. I'm probably going to re-cover the bottoms as well as search So Cal auto dismantlers.

[Gayle]

Do a search in the UUC Digest archives -- the same question was raised in the past week. I and others answered it there.

http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest%40uucdigest.com/index.html

Search "E34 Seats"

best, whit


WOW! Was that frustrating! That site really makes you appreciate this one. The search function sucks and the site rules make this place look like the land of the lawless.

But I pride myself on my reasearch skills. I refused to be beaten by their aniquated technology. FOUND IT!!! I finally figured if the post was last week, I might as well start with the most recent and go back. It took about 30 seconds compared to the 20 minutes I just spent on the search function. How stupid am I that I wouldn't give up. And it is not even my issue. Get a life Gayle. Now after that rant.....

http://www.mail-archive.com/bmwuucdigest%40uucdigest.com/msg06653.html


Here is the actual post. I didn't see any responses but you would have to look for yourself since it seems to be a one giant linear thread in the order of posting with no topic.





------------------------------

Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2005 10:44:25 -0400
From: rmplum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: bmwuucdigest@uucdigest.com
Subject: Re: Replacement seats
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

On 10/5/05, John H <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I am looking to replace the driver and passenger seats in my '91 535. Does
> anyone have any experience with this? What to go with, Recaro, Sparco,
> Corbeau? I would even consider factory "sport seats".

Everybody's butt is different, but I absolutely love the Recaro SRD
seat (or whatever they call it these days). Though it will be awfully
tight if you're much over 200 lbs. The high/stiff lower thigh bolster
can make them a little tougher for ingress/egress but once you're in
it's fine.

Ben K has my old one in his 04 STi right now, and I think he'd
back me up on both it's comfort and more than adequate support for a
track day here and there...

Ben also had a pair of Sparco sport seats in his house a while back -
I didn't like them nearly as much as the Recaro. Don't EVER consider
a Cobra Sidewinder. Absolute junk. I'm sitting in one now (converted
to an office chair) and that's all it is good for.

Ryan

[Kalevera]

My fault. The thread was called "replacement seats".

Hi John.

Try Bobby Thrash of Strictly German (Braselton, GA & Grover, NC). SG
sold a set of 540i/6 sport seats on eBay last (?) week for something
around $500.

One thing to remember when installing this type of seat (or any
E32/E34 memory seat, for that matter) is that the memory module
requires a memory wiring harness, and the seats won't move without
either of the aforementioned elements. Not a difficult proposition,
but another item to consider. My writeup on converting my non-memory
10/89 535 to memory seats/mirrors/column is in progress, hopefully to
be published on bmw4life.com in the near future.

I had similar longevity issues with leatherique.

Best, Whit

On 10/5/05, John Hoverson <jhoverson@direcway.com> wrote:
> I am looking to replace the driver and passenger seats in my '91 535. Doe=
s
> anyone have any experience with this? What to go with, Recaro, Sparco,
> Corbeau? I would even consider factory "sport seats". The car has factory
> "comfort" seats now that were trashed when I bought the car four years ag=
o.
> I did the leatherique rejuvenator - redye but now they have many rips and
> holes. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> Thanks
> John Hoverson
> Hartfield, VA
> '91 535i
> '97 540

Another reply to note is Mark Plante's, regarding Recaro Sports:



The SRDs do sit low. I find myself wishing for about an inch lift, particularly when my poor wife needs to drive my car.

If anyone's come up with a graceful way to lift them (already have the Stock recaro sliders under the base, I'd appreciate it.

People have mentioned washers, but that doesn't seem very solid to me.


Marc Plante
1997 E36 M3/4 67k
2005 Child (any day now)
Vienna, VA


best, whit

[Maki]

One more option: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=HD23&mospid=47408&hg=52&fg=10
(I hope that cut-and-paste link is complete!)
The point being, you probably can rebuild your OE seats. I've done E30 sports with BMW pads, so I'd assume they're available for E34s. They're certainly catalogued. Do a realoem search and you'll find the part numbers for the appropriate pads -- which is the crucial part. Seat covers are easy, from BMW, World Upholstery or GAHH, among others.

Automotive upholstery is a snap if you have covers sewn up to fit your seats. I've found the World Upholstery E30 sport kit to be an easy fit with the appropriate pads, although the covers don't quite match the originals. You will need hog rings and a hog ring pliers, which you can get from Eastwood.com and other vendors.

Regarding restorable upholstery, it sounds like there are some low opinions about the Leatherique dye kit. I've heard of people using shoe cream or shoe dye to restore the color. Not exactly plug-and-play compared to Leatherique or Surflex -- you may have to blend some dyes to match the original. But there are a lot of leather specialists out there (Feibing, Kiwi, to name a couple) who aren't connected to the automotive industry.

[Gayle]

The front seats in my 1991 535i have had it. They look ok at best, and the stuffing has been beat totally down. What are my options for finding seats from other models that will fit? Comfort is a big deal hear.

Thanks

Why don't you post pics? You know, a "can these seats be saved" kind of post. What color are they? And by the way, I am the one who has used shoe polish on blue leather with great satisfaction.